


The Rabbit Hole

by modern_mage



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Lion Swap, M/M, Pre-Relationship, season three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-19 23:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11908851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modern_mage/pseuds/modern_mage
Summary: Lance is feeling homesick in more ways than one, and Keith comforts him.





	The Rabbit Hole

It is all too quiet inside Blue’s hangar, and Lance tries to ignore the wrench of his heart. He is sitting cross-legged in front of Blue, elbows resting on knees. With an elongated sigh, he squeezes his eyes shut and hopes that maybe, just this once, Blue will speak to him again. He didn’t understand why she had to shut him out now, just because he was flying Red. And while, yeah, he and Red make a good team, they don’t share the same connection. Blue is comforting, friendly, _home_. Red is fierce, determined, protective, and while Lance can’t fault her for that, flying Red feels like house-sitting in comparison.

“C’mon, Blue, talk to me,” Lance pleads. He keeps his eyes firmly shut and concentrates as though he were in the heat of battle. Yet, he feels no waves of reassurance and hears no quiet purring. It as though Blue has built a wall between them and wants nothing more to do with him. It _hurts_. Maybe he should stop wasting his time doing this, maybe he should go sit in Red’s hangar for hours on end with the hope of feeling something reminiscent of what once was. 

“You know how hard it was for me to leave Earth, Blue, probably better than anyone,” Lance continues needlessly. “You could always feel just how homesick I was. And now, losing you feels like losing a second home.” 

Blue says nothing. 

Resigned, Lance opens his eyes. He looks down and fiddles with one of the sleeves of his hoodie. It had been a gift from his mom on his sixteenth birthday, and sometimes it feels like the only connection to home he has. He has stopped wondering if he’ll ever return home again, if only because the thought of not returning is too painful. 

“Lance?” 

Lance jumps to his feet and spins around. It’s Keith, which he supposes is better than having Allura find him trying to win back Blue. “Oh, hey man.” 

“What are you doing here?” Keith asks. He makes his way so that he is now standing in front of Lance, arms crossed and eyes inquisitive. 

“Just catching up with Blue.” Lance shrugs and sticks his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “Or well, trying to…” 

“I know what you mean,” Keith says. “I’ve tried talking to Red a few times. She shuts me out.”

“Red doesn’t seem to be the talkative type.”

Keith tilts his head, examining him. Lance feels immensely awkward, wondering if he somehow managed to offend Keith. Maybe Red is really talkative and not just to him… 

“It’s more like a thrum,” Keith says finally. “She doesn’t so much speak as she does… feel?” 

“Oh yeah, the crazy protectiveness.” Lance nods his head. “It kinda threw-” 

“I wouldn’t call it crazy.” Keith looks defensive now, his arms drawn even closer to his chest. “She just really cares.” 

“Sure, man, whatever you say.” It might have taken a little longer this time, but Lance somehow did manage to offend Keith.  “Guess you’d be partial, her having saved your butt so many times.” 

“Yeah, guess so.” 

There’s an awkward moment of silence. Lance shifts his weight between feet, hands still in his pockets. “Were you looking for me? Is something up?” 

Does Keith actually… blush? He looks away briefly. “Yeah, just thought I’d check up on you. Hunk said you were feeling homesick, and as team ‘leader,’ well…” He puts air quotes around leader, a fact that does not go unnoticed by Lance. 

“Dude, did you just use air quotes?” 

“Uh, yeah?” 

Lance can’t resist himself. “They have those out in the desert?” 

“Uh, yeah? 

Lance tries to ignore how cute and confused and perhaps a little sheepish Keith looks standing before him, dealing with his teasing. That is a rabbit hole that he is not quite ready to fall into. The last thing he needs is to lie awake at night thinking about how much he actually loves that mullet and the way Keith’s muscles flex as he wields his sword. 

Okay, maybe he’s already starting to fall down that rabbit hole, but at the very least, he can try to slow his descent. 

“So,” Keith clears his throat, “Feeling okay?” 

Lance deflates a bit at that. “Yeah man.” 

The expression on Keith’s face very clearly conveys that he does not believe Lance. 

“I miss Blue,” Lance explains. “And I’ve always been homesick; everyone knows that.”

Another awkward pause. 

“Is there anything that I can do?” Keith asks, and it’s asked with so much uncertainty that Lance’s plan to descent slowly into the rabbit hole almost falls apart at the seams right there. 

“Sooner we beat the Galra, sooner I can get home and eat Mom’s _arroz con leche_.” Lance shifts his weight again and fails to make eye contact. “Not much to be done about Blue, though.”

Keith rests a hand on Lance’s shoulder, and he’s reminded of when he did the same after the Black Lion had just chosen Keith. While he looks up, he still doesn’t quite make eye contact. 

“Lance, look at me.” 

He does and meets Keith’s intense gaze. He can feel the same determination radiating from Keith as he feels while he flies Red, and for once, it’s comforting. It’s definitely not how Blue feels, nor will it ever be, but maybe, just maybe, it is something that he can work with. 

“We’ll beat Lotor, we’ll beat Zarkon, we’ll beat the Galra.” 

“Yeah?” 

Keith nods. “Yeah.”


End file.
